Following “Columbus” and “After Yang,” South Korean/American filmmaker Kogonada tried his hand at a larger commercial lane with “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” starring Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie (read our review). But his newest film seems to have been built from the opposite impulse, perhaps an antithesis to big budget: move fast, strip the machinery down, and make something with a few trusted collaborators in a city that can carry the feeling. “Zi,” which premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, was shot secretly in Hong Kong and now has its first trailer ahead of its New York premiere at the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look 2026.
Written, directed, edited, and produced by Kogonada, the film stars Michelle Mao (“Bridgerton”) as Zi, a Hong Kong violinist awaiting the results of a worrying neurology exam while experiencing visions of her future self. Over the course of one night, she meets Elle, an eccentric American expat played by Haley Lu Richardson, whose appearance may already have entered Zi’s mind before the two cross paths. Jin Ha (“Devs,” “Love Life”) co-stars as Min.
The Playlist’s review out of Sundance called “Zi” a return to “the more subdued and small-scale humanism” of “Columbus,” adding that “the curves and crevices of Hong Kong’s architecture adorn the boxy frames of Kogonada’s latest feature.” The review also noted that “Zi” acts as a visual poem about a city, a fitting description for a film that seems to turn Hong Kong itself into a state of mind, moving through its streets, rooms, and night spaces with a sense of drift and unease.
That sounds squarely in Kogonada’s lane, but the making of “Zi” gives it a different charge. The film was reportedly shot over three weeks in October 2025 with a tiny team, including cinematographer Benjamin Loeb, who previously shot “Columbus” and “After Yang.” The spareness matters: Kogonada’s cinema has often been about architecture, distance, time, and the ache of connection, but “Zi” seems to trade the polish of a larger production for something more immediate and instinctive.
MoMI’s First Look program describes the film as a New York premiere and has Kogonada, Mao, and producer Christopher Radcliff appearing in person for the April 30, 2026, screening. The festival itself runs April 23 through May 3, 2026, and the “Zi” slot gives New York audiences an early look at a film that already feels like a corrective little detour: not a retreat from Kogonada’s formal interests, but a way of putting them back on foot, in the street, with fewer filters between impulse and image.
“Zi” makes its New York premiere at First Look 2026 on April 30, 2026. Watch the trailer below via the Film Stage.
